Employee Relations

Employee Relations
Session Objectives
•
To provide participants with preliminary knowledge
base to begin to function in the new HR department
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To acquaint participants with the core areas of HR
concern in ER
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To identify the essence of the Labour Act germane
to HR duties
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Session Content
• Labour & employment laws as they affect IR & ER
• Grievance procedures & industrial dispute
settlement
• Collective bargaining process
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HR role in understanding employee relations
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Setting the Tone
• The challenges that changes pose often become
overwhelming if not well understood by the HR
practitioner. Gone are the days when HR is allcomer field. It is now well professionalised
• The HR practitioners then need to get very familiar
with the provisions of the labour laws, the core
areas in IR and ER to deal effectively with labourmanagement issues that will definitely arise in the
workplace
• Hence this session
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LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
LAWS
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Labour and Employment Laws
• Any HR practitioner worth their salt should be familiar
with the labour laws and legislations because they
guide every decision concerning industrial relations
practice
• Both national and international laws are germane to
the duties of a HR officer
• We can only gloss over them here
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Labour and Employment Laws
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Labour Act Cap 198 LFN 1990
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Trade Union Act, Cap 473 LFN 1990
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Trade Unions (Amendment) Act, 2005
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Trade Disputes Act, Cap 432 LFN 1990
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Employees’ Compensation Act, 2011
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Factories Act, Cap 126 LFN 1990
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ILO and UN Instruments
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
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Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, C 98, 1949
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Equal Remuneration Convention 100, 1951
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Abolition of Forced Labour, C 105, 1957
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Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) C 111, 1958
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Employment Policy Convention 122, 1964
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International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Right, 1966
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Declaration on Equality of Opportunity and Treatment for Women Workers,
1979
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Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) C 111, 1958
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Employment Policy Convention 122, 1964
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International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Right, 1966
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Declaration on Equality of Opportunity and Treatment for Women Workers,
1979
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GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES AND
INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE
SETTLEMENTS
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Grievance Procedures and the Dispute
Settlement Process
• Conflicts are inevitable in human interactions. It
behooves the HR officer to constantly endeavour
to make conflicts work in favour of progress and
unity in the organisation
• This means, conflict can be positive if well
handled
• We shall run through the statutory procedure for
industrial conflicts resolution
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Conflict Resolutions Mechanisms
• Statutory Internal Machinery (Trade Disputes
Act Cap 432 LFN 1990)
• Grievance Handling Procedure
• Mediation
• Statutory External Machinery (Trade Disputes
Act Cap 432 LFN 1990)
• Conciliation
• Arbitration (IAP)
• Board of Inquiry
• Adjudication (NIC)
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Trade Dispute Resolution Process
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Mediation
Conciliation
Arbitration
Adjudication
Court of Appeal
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COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
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Collective Bargaining Process
• What often leads to industrial conflict is the
breakdown in collective bargaining or the
implementation of collective agreement
• If the collective bargaining is well managed,
and the collective agreement respected by all
parties, conflict is minimised. The process of
collective bargaining is easy to follow and
implement
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Defining Collective Bargaining
A process of interest accommodation which includes
all sorts of bipartite or tripartite discussions relating
to labour problems and directly or indirectly affecting
a group of workers.
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Functions of Collective Bargaining
• Standard-setting machinery for wages
determination and employment conditions
• Guiding principle for industrial and employee
relations
• Means of establishing rules guiding relationships
through Collective Agreement
• Providing method of settling grievances
occurring due to and in the course of
employment relations
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Core Issues
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Wages and salaries
Condition of service and employment
Allowances and bonuses
Hour of work and overtime
Leave periods
Fringe benefits
Productivity bargaining
As contained in Collective Agreement
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UNDERSTANDING EMPLOYEE
RELATIONS
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Concept of Employee Relations
• Employees, workers and labour are synonyms,
referring to people who exchange their talents,
skills, energy and knowledge for monetary
compensation in employment situations
• Employees, being human, have feelings and
emotions, so they are sensitive and can act and
react when provoked
• Employee relations consists of consciously
developed policy for the welfare of the
employees
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Employee Relations Aspects
Issues involved in employee relations include the
following:
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Provision of conducive working environment
Right to associate and collectively bargain
Access to equitable reward system
Positive reinforcement towards motivation
Training and development
Job enrichment process
Access to competitive wage system
Productivity improvement schemes
Employee ownership participation
Occupational health and safety
Right to good leadership
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Employer and Employee Relationship
• Employees will give their best in service if the
employer recognises their unique importance in
the organisation
• Employers often treat labour as just one of the
factors of production resulting in grave
consequences
• The level of rapport between labour and
employer dictates the mood of the enterprise
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CURRENT TRENDS IN
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
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Current Trends
• Inability to pay living wages to workers causes industrial unrest
and low productivity
• Government establishments now have industrial relations
departments for negotiation and administration of collective
agreements
• Industrial unions now employ specialists to deal with negotiations,
grievances, legal services, and public relations
• Inadequate functional infrastructures for economic growth has
implications for industrial relations
• Global trends include ICT, flexi hour, home working, individualised
employment contract, etc.
• Issues in Nigerian labour laws yet to adjust to global trends to
strengthen employment relations
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CONCLUSION
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Concluding Remarks
• Since change is the only constant factor in life,
trends in IR and ER will continue to be in a state of
flux
• HR managers are enjoined to keep abreast of
emerging trends so as to move with the time
• It behoves HR managers to always weigh the
consequences of implementing new trends and
changes; and recommend the best to management
for implementation
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